faderift | OPEN: Cloudreach Event

OPEN: Cloudreach Event

WHO: Anyone at Skyhold
WHAT: Cloudreach showers bring weird shit.
WHEN: Cloudreach 15 onward
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: For information about the illness, its effects, and its cure, please make sure to also read the OOC Post.

This high in the mountains, snowstorms are to be expected. But this one is large and lingering, hanging over the valley and the fortress for days. In Skyhold, with its eternal spring, the snow becomes rain before it hits the ground, leaving inhabitants and visitors to wade through puddles and mud in the courtyards. In the valley, snow and ice accumulate under cloud cover—and worse, when the clouds finally thin, a whole winter's accumulation of snow begins to melt in the sunlight.

Within a day, the ground is sodden and mucky enough to give the survivors of the Fallow Mire (or Ferelden in general) unpleasant flashbacks, and those who live in tents are issued additional hastily-constructed wooden pallets to raise their floors above the mud. It is worse outside the fortress: streams and rivers have overflowed their banks, rapids run twice as fast as normal, and flash flooding has made even road travel treacherous.

On Cloudreach 17 a mudslide buries the pass into Skyhold from the west, and on the 19th a sheet of snow loosened from a mountainside collapses into the shadowed passage from the east. An Inquisition supply caravan is caught in the latter, scattering wagons and goods across the hillside and leaving a dozen people and horses in need of rescue and medical care.

Healers may find themselves stretched thin, as in addition to the usual rash of blisters and sniffles that come from days of rain and flooding, an illness begins to sweep through Skyhold's ranks from around the 16th onward. It's marked first by climbing fever, then by flashes at the edges of vision—green light and jagged formations that aren't there, beings of light and shadow gathering around people or clustering in corners—and distant voices, coherent for brief moments if you're quiet and still and not trying too hard to listen.

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A man in the moon? Not sure why she would have thought that, Korrin's brow furrows. "Did you go up in a giant whale, too, because that's the crazy-ass story I got from him. Or, wait, it was a ship that was called a whale or something. Keeping stories straight isn't my forte right now."

She takes a moment to try and clear her mind before responding, though the mental fog is as stubborn as ever. "It all sounds bizarre, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear it. I love crazy-ass stories and have a ton of my own. So I'm not judging."

"A giant w...och, no. Now, mind you, I'd thought once that some of these things were flying beasties, but they're more like special ships. Only ones that can sail in the stars rather than on the seas."

Although an airship could possibly look like a great big whale, now that he thought about it. Now that would be a flying beastie for sure...

A faintly distant look crosses his face as his mind winds up wandering, caught up in the thought. After a few moments, however, he manages to refocus on the here and now and glances back in Korrin's direction.

"The first time I went to the moon it was in the ship that I used to travel in before coming here. It wasn't on purpose, mind. The Doctor'd been trying to take us somewhere else, only we'd wound up on the moon instead. The second time...aye, well, that was a bit different."

Those few moments have Korrin distracted again as she glares at chattering spirits wandering the tavern, curious about everything and everyone. She nearly throws a tankard at them, but Jamie's voice distracts her just in time. "You arrived on the moon...by accident. Seriously? What the fuck, Jamie.

...wait, what happened the second time?" There's a nagging irritation in the back of her mind, knowing that it's likely she'll retain so little of this later that she'll have to ask for the story again. Oh, well. At this point, it's less about the tale involved and more about focusing on something other than feeling like utter crap.

"Aye, the Doctor said he was taking us to Mars, but the TARDIS has a mind of its own. If I had a sovereign for every time he'd said he could fly that thing and we wound up somewhere else altogether...well, I daresay I'd have been able to buy your whole supply of maraas-lok and still have some left over for other things."

Although that was the first time, and not the second, and he caught himself before he managed to completely go off on a tangent about the first trip. It wasn't as thought he couldn't go back to it if she wanted him to, anyway.

"The second time there were these machines called a 'T-Mat' that...well, you know how you can get from one side of a battlefield to the other really quickly with that steppy thing? It was a wee bit like that, except using a machine and not magic. Only it was broken, so we had to take a rocket up in order to get there and see what why it was broken."

Korrin's brow furrows, trying to process all that's said though the mind-fog and background spirit chatter sure as hell don't make it easy. But the Vashoth woman is in desperate need of thinking about something other than how miserable she's feeling, so she'll try her best. "Some asshole was messing with it, right? Usually someone's ruining it for everyone else. I almost wish I could see that for myself, and if it's faster than me."

"Well, yes and no. One of the technicians - er, the people who work on the thing normally - had done it deliberately because they'd been invaded and they were trying to stop the invaders from using it. Only they'd not had any time to send a message back to Earth to warn them what'd happened, so nobody knew why it'd stopped working."

Hence the rocket and the trip up there, although she hadn't asked about the rocket. It was a fair amount to take in as it was, though, so he didn't bother going back to that part of things right now, figuring he'd do it if she decided to ask about it.

"Couldn't tell you if it was faster or not than what you can do, though. Only thing I could tell for sure was it didn't feel like anything at all once we'd been able to fix it and then use it to get back to Earth."

"...oh, I see. That makes a lot sense, though it sounds like a bad situation all around. Who the hell was invading? And a...rocket? What's--" Trying to get more comfortable, Korrin nearly falls over when she turns to glare a particularly nosy/chatty spirit into silence. She manages to stop herself by gripping the edge of the table, though. "Fucking spirits.

...if we had something like that, imagine what we could do here. No more endless trekking just to get where we need to be, or waiting for forces to return before moving out somewhere else. It'd change everything."

"A rocket or a T-Mat?"

Or both, possibly. Even a rocket could make things easier in some ways - although it wouldn't help with nosy spirits so much, and his head turns in the same direction as Korrin's does for a moment, pulling a small face at the spirit in question before looking back at her.

"Rockets aren't large enough to hold that many people. They're long, cylindrical machines that can go long distances but you can only have a handful of people in them at one time. A T-mat could move more, maybe, but part of the problem they had is that they used it to move everything. Food, medicines, people...and when the Ice Warriors invaded the moonbase it shut everything down."

"...damn. So much for that." Korrin huffs, then tries to move her head enough to meet his gaze. "If you're any hand at drawing, you should try rendering things from your adventures sometime. I'd love to see them, and maybe it'd be easier to understand some of the crazy shit you're talking about. Maybe, can't make any promises."

Drawing wasn't something he'd considered, and he blinks, surprised at the idea - at least to start. There's some chatter from the spirits nearby as well, but he steadfastly ignores it, concentrating on the notion Korrin's brought up instead. Well, that at the drink that's just arrived, something that's cool going down his throat and something that's very much appreciated in the moments before he responds.

"I'd not say I'm much of an artist, but I could maybe have a go at it sometime. I daresay things like the Yeti'd be easy enough anyway. Or the bear that turned up that one time. Not that you don't know what those don't look like anyway, but I know I can draw that. I'd have to get some sort of...hm, don't know. I'd not want to waste paper on something like that. Any suggestions?"

"Give me a drink, too. Something to rest against my head." Anything cool would be a welcome reprieve at this point, short of exiting Skyhold to roll around in the mountain snow. Korrin's brow furrows, as she hasn't done much drawing herself, not since she was a child, but it's not such a convoluted subject that her mind can't follow.

"Hm...animal hides or some types of bark often work almost as well as paper. If we were farther north, I'd say dried palm leaves would be a good substitute. You could probably still get it, but it'd cost more since they'd have to import it."

The person who's brought over the drink nods and heads off to fill Korrin's request, and Jamie wobbles a bit in his seat as he turns to watch her go. A few moments later and he turns back - slowly, so as not to pitch over, and pushes his drink towards her.

"Here, you can borrow this until she comes back if you want. Maybe it'll help."

And it's not as though he minds her borrowing it and using it to cool off her forehead. He can live without it for a few minutes.

"Hide'd have to be scraped pretty thin to work, I'd say, but maybe that could do. Or bark, assuming I can find any that'd work. Not about to try and take some off the trees to have a go at it myself. Sooner make a try of sand and use that...hey. That gives me an idea! They'd not have to be permanent drawings, would they? You'd just want to see what some of the beasties I fought would look like."

"Thanks...." Lifting the drink, Korrin presses it against her forehead, closing her eyes in momentary relief. Undoubtedly a cool compress could be managed at the healing tents but shut up, this is better.

"Birch bark is good, but you'd likely have to get it from a merchant unless we travel to where it can be found. Not many birch trees up in the mountains. I know people who can manage hide canvases, though, if you really want.

...and no, they don't have to be permanent. 'Sup to you and however you'd want to do it."

"Well, if they don't have to be permanent, then, what's stopping us from going out in the snow for a bit? If it's not raining, all I'd really need is a stick and a large enough patch of the stuff that I can show you. And I daresay it'd likely be cooler out there than it is in here right about now."

Never mind that it's probably not the best plan to go out in the snow for any length of time if they're actually sick, but right about now the idea of something cooler sounds very appealing. And maybe a bit less crowded, too, and he nods in the direction of the spirits.

"Maybe we'd have a bit less company as well out there. What do you think?"

Korrin's not in any position to refuse Jamie, not when the idea of cooling down in the snow is extremely appealing. Some part of her knows that's now how this is supposed to work, that it might just make things worse in the long run, but she's too worn and desperate to do anything but live moment-to-moment. So, she nods and tries to push herself up to at least a sitting position.

"Excellent idea, Jamie. I...might need help standing up, though."

"Aye, I can do that."

Korrin may be larger than he is, but he's confident that he's strong enough to help her get up...that is until he goes to push himself to his feet and a wave of dizziness passes through him, causing him to plant both hands on the table and lower his head in an effort to try and get the feeling to subside. After a moment, though, the feeling passes, and he shifts around to the side of the table to where Korrin is with only a minimum of wobbliness.

"Here, hand me that drink back first, then we'll see about getting you out of that chair."

Shoving it forward, Korrin reluctantly releases the drink, then puts all her strength into pushing her chair back and standing, leaning heavily against the table as she does so. No matter how slowly it's done, the dizziness hits her anyway, and she sways a little. "Ugh, make the world stop spinning...."

While Korrin is pushing her chair back, Jamie thriftily drains the glass before setting it aside, not wanting to have the drink go to waste. He's got the feeling that he's going to need both hands free to help out Korrin, something that's only confirmed further for him when she winds up leaning on the table. His head's spinning some as well, but for now he does his best to ignore it, ducking under her arms and moving his at the same time so he can provide her with a little extra support. It means it'll probably take them a bit to get out to a place with snow, but hopefully with him in place she won't fall over in the meantime.

"Not sure I can entirely manage that, but at least you can lean on me in the meantime. Think you can walk like this?"

Sadly, Korrin can't do much to make it easier on Jamie. The larger, muscled woman is heavy, especially when she can't support her own weight very well. She makes a vague mental note to make it up to him, somehow. Later. Much later. For now, she manages a feeble smile

"I...think I can try. Though if I fall, don't throw your back out. Get Taas to move me."

"Think if you fall, you're taking me down with you," he points out.

Likely, they'd have to find someone to go get Taas to help them both if that was the case, but he has no intention of letting her fall - not if he can help it. So long as they don't try and rush it, they should be fine. He hopes, anyway. But the smile he gives her in return is an encouraging one, even as he makes a small move forward.

"Alright then, let's try a wee step or two. Slowly, mind, and then you'll know soon enough if it'll not work before we get too far from the table."

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OPEN: Cloudreach Event

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